My Aaji couldn't find brass knobs so she had steel knobs fitted on the pots
As a child I had always admired my Aaji’s tea and sugar brass pots. They were a permanent fixture in her tiny kitchen as she bustled about making tea and snacks for her four daughters and sons-in-law.
My grandparents moved out of their small house and into an apartment (flat) a few years ago. The pots travelled with them and although I was too small to drink tea as a child, the pots somehow always reminded me of my good old days spent at my Aaji’s playing with my cousins and pulling pranks on each other.
On my last visit to India I found out that my grandparents had moved into a bigger flat so my recently widowed aunt could stay with them. However, the pots were not on her kitchen window sill. Instead, there were two shiny stainless steel pots next to the cooking stove.
Now, before this moment I had never told my grandmother how much I liked her brass pots. So imagine her surprise when I told her that I was sad she had got rid of her pots. After the initial surprise she started smiling, took me to her bedroom and there under her bed in a shoe box were the two brass pots. The knobs on the lids were missing they were slightly dinged, but apart from that they were in perfectly good condition. She was going to sell them to a brass shop but she was more than happy to give them to me.
Now, living thousands of miles away from my Aaji’s home, I am the proud owner of her pots, my memories of her and of my carefree childhood.
My grandparents moved out of their small house and into an apartment (flat) a few years ago. The pots travelled with them and although I was too small to drink tea as a child, the pots somehow always reminded me of my good old days spent at my Aaji’s playing with my cousins and pulling pranks on each other.
On my last visit to India I found out that my grandparents had moved into a bigger flat so my recently widowed aunt could stay with them. However, the pots were not on her kitchen window sill. Instead, there were two shiny stainless steel pots next to the cooking stove.
Now, before this moment I had never told my grandmother how much I liked her brass pots. So imagine her surprise when I told her that I was sad she had got rid of her pots. After the initial surprise she started smiling, took me to her bedroom and there under her bed in a shoe box were the two brass pots. The knobs on the lids were missing they were slightly dinged, but apart from that they were in perfectly good condition. She was going to sell them to a brass shop but she was more than happy to give them to me.
Now, living thousands of miles away from my Aaji’s home, I am the proud owner of her pots, my memories of her and of my carefree childhood.
What a treasure!
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